Yesterday, Microsoft dropped a bomb by announcing that all versions of Windows 7 released in Europe would ship without Internet Explorer pre-installed. This was in answer to the EU antitrust investigation currently under way regarding possible illegal bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows. The first reactions to this news are coming in, with Opera and the EU both lamenting the move.

So because there are several browsers out there, it is considered uncompetitive to include a browser within the OS.

How come does this not apply to text editors? Isn't including Wordpad/Notepad inside Windows an uncompetitive move?

This is absurd. And expecting a company to actually promote competing products using pop-ups is downright ridiculous. And I honestly doubt the user-friendliness of being presented a pop-up with (currently) 5 different options.

It seems to me that the EU is only searching for reasons to fine MS, and is now upset because it has lost one.